Culinary artistPublished on March 7, 2008

Food stylist Korey Kealey samples her dumpling recipe, which was created by her mother. Photo by Darren Brown

Pork dumpling vegetable soup. Photo by Darren Brown

Asian pork dumplings. Photo by Darren Brown

Creamy curried pot stickers. Photo by Darren Brown

Open a food magazine or illustrated cookbook and you can't help but be seduced by the mouth-watering photographs of glistening vegetables or luscious cakes.

So why don't dishes made at home look quite as lovely? The secret ingredient in those professional pictures is food styling - the magical art of making food look delectably gorgeous.

This quest for edible perfection is a challenge that Korey Kealey relishes. The Ottawa resident is one of Ontario's pre-eminent food stylists and spokespersons, responsible for promoting such well-known publications as the hugely popular Dairy Farmers of Canada's Milk Calendar. A busy mother of three pre-teens, the work she does through her company, FoodThought Communications, is earning high marks throughout the local, provincial and national food industry. Inspired by her mother's lifelong passion for food, Korey shared in a recent interview how she's constantly finding new ways to capitalize on her keen interest in food and nutrition.

1What do you love about your job?

Whenever I eat, I call it research and development. It's a fun business and I enjoy having a lot of creative freedom when I am serving as a food spokesperson, since I get to develop the whole concept, from original idea right through to recipes.

2How did you get into food styling?

Having decided years before that I wanted to work in the food business, I studied food and nutrition management at Kemptville College after graduating from Ottawa U. My first job was as assistant to Pam Collacott, local chef, cookbook author and food spokesperson - I'm not a chef, but I truly love to cook, and I learned so much from her.

3What kind of projects do you tackle?

There's a huge variety. One day I'll be at a television station doing a cooking segment; the next I'll be in my kitchen at home creating some new recipes on behalf of a client. Another day might see me spending hours preparing one perfect plate for what's called the "hero shot" in the print world.

4 How have you set yourself apart from others in the industry?

I've always focused on fresh, healthy cooking with an emphasis on homemade versus packaged foods. When I was getting started I never said no to anything because every little thing I did usually led to something bigger and better.

5Who do you work with?

In addition to the Dairy Farmers, I particularly enjoy developing new recipes for Foodland Ontario's publications which showcase fruits and vegetables in season. I have worked with Butterball on their turkey campaigns and represented Jarden Consumer's small appliances including Sunbeam, Oster, Rival and Crockpot. Overall, I'd say my favourite clients are those who let me have some fun with food and put my own spin on things.

6Tell us about the quantities of food you work with.

I might slice a thousand tomatoes for one single shot. It can take anywhere from eight to 10 hours to prepare for a six-minute TV clip, including making the recipe three times. I once spent hours plating one slice of rhubarb cake, which included replacing individual crumbs. I also cooked two giant pans of lasagna, and then completely dissected them to reconstruct one perfect, but realistic, piece for a photo.

7What food is the easiest or most challenging to work with?

Vegetables are probably the easiest, because they are beautiful all on their own. Drinks are very hard, because you want them to look cool and refreshing, but don't want condensation to detract from their appearance, so we use artificial ice.

8 What has been your biggest near-disaster?

Moments before I went on air during a TV segment showcasing what can be done with blenders and panini grills, I discovered there was no power to my equipment on the set. I just walked and talked through the demonstration and pretended there was no problem. When it's live TV, you have to be able to roll with things instead of panicking.

9What are some of your tricks of the trade?

Often when you see food on TV that appears cooked, it's actually raw. A beautiful plump turkey is likely stuffed with paper towels to keep its shape and shiny vegetables have been spritzed with Pam cooking spray. At home, the best trick of all is to pay more attention to how you present your food - if it looks appealing, it will seem to taste even better. You can make a plain meal like a stew, pot pie or casserole special by cooking an individual dish for each person - they're great for portion control and much more attractive to serve.

10What has been your favourite experience as a food stylist?

A real highlight for me thus far was being the spokesperson this fall for the Milk Calendar, after doing their food styling for six years. It was an honour to represent such a wonderful and well-loved publication.